Wixon: Alexis Jones' 'quiet' 44 points set up MacArthur-Duncanville final

2/16

John F. Rhodes/Special Contributor

West Mesquite High's Sha'Georgia Williams (1, CQ) drives to the basket between Highland Park's Laura Edwards (33, left) and Courtney Klingaman (32, right) during the second half of their UIL Class 4A Region II girls' playoff basketball game at the Garland Special Events Center on Friday, February 24, 2012. West Mesquite won 62-51.

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FORT WORTH — As Irving MacArthur was putting the finishing touches on its 76-62 victory over Lubbock Coronado on Friday, a radio announcer mentioned that guard Alexis Jones was not the person Coronado wanted to foul.

“But she’s the only one who ever has the ball,” he said.

That’s only a slight exaggeration. And it’s no exaggeration to say that Jones didn’t have a great game despite a big scoring night as MacArthur advanced to the Class 5A Region I final. MacArthur (35-2) will face Duncanville (37-1), a 60-29 winner over Amarillo in Friday’s other semifinal, at 1 p.m. Saturday for a spot in the state tournament.

Jones didn’t have her best game, but the senior still scored 17 straight points for MacArthur in the second half. She made a running 25-footer at the third-quarter buzzer, sank 12 of 13 free throws, dished out six assists and ignited several fastbreaks with steals.

Jones, who has scored more than 50 before, is the rare player who can have a somewhat-quiet 44 points. The senior also made only four of 14 3-pointers.

“I was really struggling out there,” she said.

Well, maybe by her standards. But MacArthur, the 5A defending champion, definitely had moments of struggle against Lubbock Coronado (27-7). MacArthur broke out to a 14-point lead early in the second half, but Coronado trimmed the lead to 53-50 early in the fourth quarter.

Jones then hit a pair of free throws — her 16th and 17th straight points for MacArthur — before passing to Khoria Newman for a 3-pointer that pushed the lead back to eight and got MacArthur rolling.

For MacArthur, which has not lost to a Texas team this season, it was a tighter game than expected. Coronado stayed in range by hitting the boards and getting a lot of second-chance points.

“I hope we got all the ugly out,” Oelschlegel said. “We need to do a much better job on the boards.”

That will be especially true against Duncanville, which had a 20-point lead against Amarillo by early in the second quarter. Duncanville squeezed the life out of Amarillo (29-7) with pressure defense and efficient offensive sets that netted open looks near the basket and beyond the 3-point arc.

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